About 1450 folios have been transcribed to hypertext. The Soncino footnotes were renumbered to accommodate the hypertext format.

The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA) where Rabbi Dr. Finkelstein was Instructor of the Talmud, and later president from 1940 until 1973. The current building was completed in 2001.

"The Jewish Theological Seminary at Broadway and 123rd Street in Harlem was founded in 1886. The seminary is the premier center for the academic study of Judaism in North America, and is the spiritual center for Conservative Judaism. The campus houses [the] List College of Jewish Studies, the Graduate School, the Rabbinical School and the Cantors Institute/Seminary College of Jewish Music." (5) JTS currently has 14 instructors on the faculty of Talmud and Rabbinics, with two more on sabbatical leave.(6)

Rabbi Adin Even Israel Steinsaltz is a recipient of Israel's highest civilian honor, the Israel Prize.

"If the Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, then the Talmud is the central pillar, soaring up from the foundations and supporting the entire spiritual and intellectual edifice. In many ways the Talmud is the most important book in Jewish culture, the backbone of creativity and of national life."

Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 11 novels, three plays and two works of nonfiction.

"The Talmud is to this day the circulating heart's blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs or ceremonies we observe — whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or merely spasmodic sentimentalists — we follow the Talmud. It is our common law." — Herman Wouk in This is My God; the Jewish Way of Life(8)

Rabbi Dr. Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology at Bard College who has published more than 850 books and is the most published humanities scholar in the world.

"The Bavli [Babylonian Talmud] has formed the definitive statement of Judaism from the time of its closure to the present day." — Rabbi Dr. Neusner (9)

You can help in the battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way! Fight the forces of censorship and suppression of the Talmud, and bring about understanding between peoples of different faiths.

Download this site to your desktop computer.
Make CDs and distribute them to friends, neighbors, ministers, and community leaders.
Email your favorite essay to your email list.
Post your favorite essay to discussion forums.
Print your favorite essays and give them to those not on the Internet.
Flyers advertising Come-and-Hear.com can be distributed throughout your community.

Genuine Come and Hear™ CDs do not contain executable programs. When making CDs, do not include any files that end in .exe, .com, .bat, .vbs, .doc, .pif, .sit, or .scr. The person receiving the CD should use his own browser to view the files. This helps to protect him from harmful programs and viruses.

The Talmud is a huge collection of doctrines and laws compiled and written before the 8th Century, A.D., by ancient Jewish teachers. The Talmud, which often cites the Old Testament, is the basic book of Jewish law.

Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds

There are two editions of the Talmud; one was composed by Babylonian Jews and one by Jews who lived in ancient Jerusalem. Generally a citation from the Talmud refers to the Babylonian version, which is considered authoritative. The Jerusalem Talmud is not generally taught in even the most Orthodox Jewish schools today, though advanced Talmud scholars sometimes study it.

(Note: Some say the "Jerusalem Talmud" should really be called the "Palestinian Talmud." [13])

Talmud Presentation

The material of the Talmud is presented as series of statements of principles and derivative discussions between the rabbinic Sages and schools of rabbinic Sages in the centuries preceding. Many of the discussions have no obvious sequence or context, leading to controversies among Talmudic scholars concerning the quality of its organization (see Is Talmud Law in Order or Disorder?[15]).

Usually there is a paragraph or two of core doctrine (Mishnah), followed by dialog (Gemara) that expands and interprets the Mishnah. (14) The Talmud is organized into six major orders, called Seders, and each Seder is organized into a number of books ("tractates"), comprising 63 tractates in all and more than four million words. The Sages of the Talmud were teachers, judges, and sometimes priests of the Temple. Their legal decisions had the power of life and death over the Jewish people.

Soncino Talmud

The editor's 1961 Soncino Talmud set. Many of the tractates have been transcribed and appear on the Come and Hear™ website.

The Soncino Press Babylonian Talmud was the first complete English translation. It was translated into English under the editorship of Rabbi Dr. Isidore Epstein of Jews' College, London. The 63 tractates were translated by the leading rabbinical scholars of the day, and the final work was praised by many prominent rabbinical authorities, including two successive Chief Rabbis of the British Commonwealth. Each of the six Seders was published individually as it became available in the years between 1935 and 1948. See also Kudos for Soncino.

Each tractate includes an introduction by the translator, a running commentary of extensive footnotes, a scriptural index, a glossary, and an index of words and subjects. In 1952, the individual indices were compiled, the Rabbinic Index was added, and the collection was published as a separate volume. (29) In 1961, the full set — containing all six seders, all 63 tractates, and the General Index — was republished without copyright notice on fine paper in 18 volumes. Pictured on the right is the author's copy of the 1961 edition, containing almost six million words. A number of the tractates from the author's copy have been transcribed into hypertext and appear on the Come and Hear™ website. Learn how this hypertext copy has been organized in Structure of the Talmud. Later, Soncino cut and pasted the original galleys into a larger format and republished the volumes with Hebrew and English on facing pages.

Ancient Roots

According to Talmud scholars, the Talmud is the written form of the teachings of the Pharisees — the very sect of Jewish priests with whom Jesus of Nazareth argued. Consider this passage from the translator of New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud and author of the History of the Talmud, Rabbi Michael Rodkinson:

Is the literature that Jesus was familiar with in his early years yet in existence in the world? Is it possible for us to get at it? Can we ourselves review the ideas, the statements, the modes of reasoning and thinking, on moral and religious subjects, which were current in his time, and must have been [resolved] by him during those silent thirty years when he was pondering his future mission? To such inquiries the learned class of Jewish rabbis answer by holding up the Talmud. Here, say they, is the source from whence Jesus of Nazareth drew the teaching which enabled him to revolutionize the world; and the question becomes, therefore, an interesting one to every Christian, What is the Talmud? …

The Talmud, then, is the written form of that which, in the time of Jesus, was called the Traditions of the Elders, and to which he makes frequent allusions.

Or consider this from The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, in the entry "Pharisees":

The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees.

Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature, and round it are gathered a number of Midrashim, partly legal (Halachic) and partly works of edification (Haggadic). This literature, in its oldest elements, goes back to a time before the beginning of the Common Era, and comes down into the Middle Ages. Through it all run the lines of thought which were first drawn by the Pharisees, and the study of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism.

Rabbi Dr. Louis Finkelstein, Instructor of Talmud, and later president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, writes:

Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism. But throughout these changes of name, inevitable adaptation of custom, and adjustment of Law, the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered. When the Jew reads his prayers, he is reciting formulae prepared by pre-Maccabean scholars; when he dons the cloak prescribed for the Day of Atonement and Passover Eve, he is wearing the festival garment of ancient Jerusalem; when he studies the Talmud, he is actually repeating the arguments used in the Palestinian academies.

Thus, perhaps, we can understand some of the tension that has historically existed between Christianity and Judaism. According to the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth expressed strong personal feelings about the Pharisees in the following words:

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Modern Significance of the Talmud

Many famous Jewish religious and secular writers have commented on the roll of the Talmud in modern Judaism. We have met some of these writers in What We're About.

Rabbi Adin Even Israel Steinsaltz is the founder of the Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications, and has enjoyed the backing of Israeli presidents and prime ministers; he is a recipient of Israel's highest civilian honor, the Israel Prize. He is currently translating the Talmud into English, French, and Russian. In 1976, he writes:

If the Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, then the Talmud is the central pillar, soaring up from the foundations and supporting the entire spiritual and intellectual edifice. In many ways the Talmud is the most important book in Jewish culture, the backbone of creativity and of national life. No other work has had a comparable influence on the theory and practice of Jewish life, shaping spiritual content and serving as a guide to conduct.

Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 11 novels, three plays and two works of nonfiction. In his book, This is My God; the Jewish Way of Life, serialized in the New York Herald-Tribune in 1959, he writes:

The Talmud is to this day the circulating heart's blood of the Jewish religion. Whatever laws, customs or ceremonies we observe — whether we are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform or merely spasmodic sentimentalists — we follow the Talmud. It is our common law.

Rabbi Dr. Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology at Bard College and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard as well. He also is a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ, and Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, in England. He has published more than 850 books and numerous articles, both scholarly and academic and popular and journalistic, and is the most published humanities scholar in the world. (9) In 1990, Rabbi Dr. Neusner writes:

The Bavli [Babylonian Talmud] has formed the definitive statement of Judaism from the time of its closure to the present day.

Soncino Babylonian Talmud tractates, with Forewords, Introductions, Glossary, List of Abbreviations, and footnotes. Now you can study the Babylonian Talmud in full context and with the running commentary of the finest scholars of Judaism:

Tractate Berakoth: http://www.come-and-hear.com/berakoth

Tractate Shabbath: http://www.come-and-hear.com/shabbath

Tractate Yebamoth: http://www.come-and-hear.com/yebamoth

Tractate Kethuboth: http://www.come-and-hear.com/kethuboth

Tractate Nedarim: http://www.come-and-hear.com/nedarim

Tractate Nazir: http://www.come-and-hear.com/nazir

Tractate Sotah: http://www.come-and-hear.com/sotah

Tractate Gittin: http://www.come-and-hear.com/gittin

Tractate Baba Kamma: http://www.come-and-hear.com/babakamma

Tractate Baba Mezi'a: http://www.come-and-hear.com/babamezia

Tractate Baba Bathra: http://www.come-and-hear.com/bababathra

Tractate Sanhedrin: http://www.come-and-hear.com/sanhedrin

Tractate Abodah Zarah: http://www.come-and-hear.com/zarah

Tractate Horayoth: http://www.come-and-hear.com/horayoth

Tractate Niddah: http://www.come-and-hear.com/niddah

Tractate Tohoroth: http://www.come-and-hear.com/tohoroth

Search the Talmud http://www.come-and-hear.com/tindex.html

Download all the above resources for local study, CD, or mirror web site:

http://www.come-and-hear.com/download

Footnotes:
Full specifics for each of the printed sources are provided in the Bibliography. Outside URLs were valid at the time this article was written. However, be mindful that URLs do change.

For more New Testament reportage on the conflicts between Jesus of Nazareth and the Pharisees, see also
Matthew 23,
John 8,
John 18, and
Matthew 27. For analysis and discussion, see The Jewish Religion: Its Influence Today, Chapter III (available at http://www.come-and-hear.com/dilling/chapt03.html). From there, use the hot links on Dilling's cites as entry points into Tractate Sanhedrin to see the Pharisee view on the accusations against Jesus, his trial, and his sentence

This is My God; the Jewish Way of Life by Herman Wouk as quoted by Elizabeth Dilling in The Jewish Religion: Its Influence Today, page 2 available in Come and Hear™ hypertext as http://www.come-and-hear.com/dilling/chapt01.html#page_2